ABOUT US AND OUR TEAM

WHY DOES THE STREET SOCCER FOUNDATION EXIST?

To bring the power of football into communities nationwide; and to inspire and encourage vulnerable and homeless young people to turn their lives around for the better.

The Street Soccer Foundation is an award-winning charitable non-profit organisation operating nationwide throughout England. We work in a collaborative manner with Football Club delivery partners using football as a catalyst to improve the lives of vulnerable and homeless young people across the country.

The Foundation was established in 2015 with the goal of driving change in the country using the power of football. We understand that football is an incredible engagement tool because of its role as the global no.1 sport which is why we have adopted football as our means to attract, engage and inspire young people, especially those currently experiencing homelessness.

Since our initial collaboration with West Ham Utd and the West Ham Utd Foundation, we have made huge strides in helping homeless and vulnerable young people across the country by educating, motivating and supporting them. Our achievements include receiving national acclaim from the likes of The Premier League, PFA, FA, the BBC and ITV.

We have now grown to become the leading football-led project specifically tackling youth homelessness in England with several delivery partnerships with professional Football Clubs and their community teams.

Youth Homelessness is a major social problem.

Young people (aged below 25) with experiences of homelessness are one of the most vulnerable groups in our society. It is an extremely isolating and destructive experience - which is why the Street Soccer Foundation exists. To help see an end to youth homelessness across England - through partnerships and collaborations using the number 1 sport in the world: the power of football.

Back in 2016, our Street Soccer Academy run in partnership with West Ham United was featured on the world-renowned ‘Match of the Day’ TV show on BBC1. The video here features young Jodie, who came onto our course as a 19-year old living in temporary sheltered accommodation. Completing the course, Jodie interviewed with the BBC, and went on to be successfully selected to represent England at the Homeless World Cup in Glasgow later that year. Jodie is now a Young Ambassador for the Foundation.

Our Street Soccer Academy and Street Soccer School programmes unite people from all different kinds of backgrounds. Through football, individuals come together to support a greater sense of well-being within their local community. Helping people to realise their true potential.

ABOUT OUR FOUNDER

Keith is a multi-award-winning entrepreneur and business leader recognised by the Centre for Entrepreneurs (CfE) and The Sunday Times as one of the UK’s most successful Businessmen supporting the next generation. In his younger days, Keith played for Millwall, Gillingham and Charlton Athletic but never quite made the grade to become a full-time professional footballer. Keith formed The Street Soccer Foundation in 2015 after learning of Homelessness statistics across England. He wanted to help the situation to benefit local communities and make a difference in young people’s lives knowing the power of football. After receiving (non-financial) support from the PFA and securing an initial delivery partnership with a Premier League Football Club, the Street Soccer Foundation was up and running and hasn't looked back since.

Keith Mabbutt, Founder & CEO

OUR STREET SOCCER UTD TEAM

The Street Soccer Foundation leadership team is a dynamic mix of individuals with various levels of experience and expertise. Fundamentally, every one of the team have a common purpose: to make a difference to as many vulnerable young people as possible - and all our team understand our 'WHY'. Why we do what we do at the Foundation.

Also presented here are our amazing Volunteers and Contributors who help our Foundation in specific areas.

Click on any of our team members to learn more about them and what they do outside of the Foundation, and why they support us in the manner they do.

Street Soccer Utd Leadership

Street Soccer Utd: Our Squad

Whilst I was at school my teacher told my mother that I was very "creative and imaginative", but the way they said it was with a sort of upward inflection on the sentence that almost made it sound like a bad thing. It was that creativity and imagination that I decided to funnel into my future career as a time travelling ninja vampire hunter.

I also found it useful for my career in marketing and design. I managed to complete 2 degrees one in design (specialising in web design) and one in fine art illustration. Uni was where I met Carrie and after a short while we both decided that working for other people sucked so we started our own company.

We wanted to do things our own way, we wanted to help people and to enjoy life and hopefully get our clients to enjoy working with us. It didn’t matter that we’d have to do that from a room over my parents garage with no heating.

We pretty much had no idea how to run a company so Carrie kept her day job a little longer an I spent every waking moment reading and researching. I'd figured out enough to get us going so it was time to cut the safety line, Carrie left her day job. The company was born and we continued to read and research. We've spent time with mentors and experts and marketing specialists and we're still looking for more. We'll never be finished with learning how to do things better but we like to think we're doing well.

It’s fair to say we’ve had some success with our business we’ve worked with various companies charities and organisations of all sizes from small business with just one person in them to worldwide brands like ITV’s “I’m a celebrity get me out of here”. Some of our clients have even told us that they’ve picked up celebrity clients of their own since they started working with us though we’re swore to secrecy as to who those celebs are.

A couple of years ago we asked my sister Alicia to join us in the company and Clockwork Moggy is, at the time of writing this, in its 9th year and going strong. We all love working for ourselves and pushing the business. So why do we call ourselves Clockwork Moggy? I know you wanted to ask. It portrays the two things we think are really important to our business, Friendly customer service and efficient time keeping.

HELP US AND GET INVOLVED WITH THE STREET SOCCER FOUNDATION

Like football, it’s a team game. The Street Soccer Foundation is a national partnership-led social project. We count on the support of local employers across the Country from various different sectors; business professionals and the general public; and football fans in general to team up with us to make a genuine impact for the benefit of vulnerable and homeless young people in communities nationwide.

We’re always happy to hear from individuals who have key strengths they can bring to the team along with a passion for helping others. And with the help of our valued Official Supporters, we continue to change lives.

GET INVOLVED AND BECOME A SUPPORTER

If you’d like to get involved and help support your local community please get in touch with us via the Contact page.

Together, CHANGING LIVES THROUGH FOOTBALL.